Premature babies and health compromised neonates and infants require specialized attentive care. This includes stable appropriate environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity. The newborn are also sensitive to noise, light and excessive vibration. In many cases, the neonates require medical life support to facilitate or monitor breathing, feeding, fluid exchange, body temperature and cardiac activity.
In neonatal intensive care units (NICU), incubators are utilized in order to maintain environmental conditions and provide round the clock support for the premature baby. Incubators are enclosed chambers housing the neonate, comprising a system for controlling its environment, and connecting to medical life support and monitoring equipment.
In order to provide care within the incubator, the handler needs to maintain access to the neonate. From general maintenance functions such as cleaning, tube exchanging, drawing blood samples to life support essential functions such as placing sensors, ventilating equipment and fluid exchange, direct comfortable approach is necessary for proper treatment.
Many times additional treatment is given to neonates during their hospitalization. These include treatments such as MRI, light therapy, blood transfusion, post-surgery care, eye examination, etc. These treatments require access of the medical personal to the neonate, and in many times require extraction of the neonate out of the incubator in order to receive treatment.
Moreover, in situations where the neonate requires immediate emergency treatment, there is need for direct contact to the infant still connected to life support medical equipment.
As the incubator is an enclosed chamber, it is in many cases an obstacle to a quick and efficient approach to the neonate. Further, cumbersome approach to the neonate afflicts on care it is given. In addition, constantly changing the neonate's placement enhances the discomfort of the neonate and further enhances the opportunity for a falling accident. Any placement onto which the neonate is placed should be able to connect to life support equipment or accept the life support equipment already connected to the neonate in order to provide continuity in medical support and prevent health complications.
There is thus a long felt need in the art for an incubator that can be opened to provide direct and comfortable access to the neonate by medical personal, care givers, technicians and chaperons while deploying a life supporting countertop, keeping all of the life support equipment available and active.
Prior art incubators include Delaporte, US20100168502, which disclosed a neonatal care system integrated with a hospital bassinet which is made up of a bassinet bed and a frame. The frame for the bassinet acts as both a structural support system and a means for transportation when the neonatal care incubator is attached at the top of the frame. The neonatal intensive care system comprising: an infant incubator comprising: a base configured for supporting an infant, the base defining a low profile volume including an open top; and an adjustable hood coupled over the open top of the base, wherein in one configuration the hood collapses completely into the base.
However, the above mentioned incubator cannot supply the life-support environment to the neonate, in its open or collapsed configurations.
Accordingly, there is a need for an incubator that can be opened and deployed to a life supporting countertop, while keeping all of the life supporting equipment active and available.